Cynophobia
by HuntingPeople
Summary: ...But Levi knew that eventually something would happen with him and the dogs, and everything would go to shit. Mike/Levi. Angst with a happy ending! Rated T to be safe. More warnings inside. Please R&R!


**WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF BLOOD/GORE, MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE, THE FEAR OF DOGS, TONS OF SWEAR WORDS, AND SPOILERS FOR BIG HERO 6**

 **THIS IS THE LAST FIC I'M WRITING THAT CENTERS AROUND DOGS, I PROMISE, well for now anyway, can't promise there won't be more in the future**

 **I feel like this fic is hella unrealistic with some of the scenes, but what-the-fuck-ever, I'm pretty happy with how this came out O3O**

~~~KMD~~~

Levi shivered in the cold and pulled his jacket tighter around himself, waiting for Mike to tell him it was OK to come in. He hated that he was scared of dogs, it made everything so much more difficult, it made him feel so pathetic. If only he wasn't scared, if only he could see a dog and not want to run in the opposite direction. Everything would be easier. He wouldn't be forcing Mike to keep his dogs shut in a room whenever Levi came over, because he was too afraid to step in the house with them roaming free.

Levi was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of his boyfriend's voice, "You can come in now."

He turned his head and stepped away from the wall he was leaning on, "Are they all in their room?"

'Their room' being the room that Mike usually kept the dogs in when Levi was around.

"All except Tiny." Mike said, stepping to the side and letting Levi enter the house.

Of course Tiny wasn't kept with the other dogs. Tiny was a ten-year-old hairless Chinese crested dog that was half deaf, half blind and had no teeth. He was also the only dog Levi could stand being around since... since _that_ happened. Mainly because the poor thing was completely harmless and couldn't hurt a fly if it tried.

Levi moved over to the sofa and sat down. Tiny was curled up at the other end, but when he noticed Levi he got to his paws and scrambled over to him, taking his place in the man's lap.

Mike chuckled at the sight, "I swear he loves you more than me sometimes." He remarked, leaning over the back of the sofa to place a kiss to Levi's hair.

Levi just hummed distractedly and Mike sighed.

"It isn't cruel, Levi. They have toys, water, access to the back garden, and it's not like I keep them in that room constantly." The taller man explained softly.

"I know, I just- you shouldn't have to keep them in that room when I'm here." Levi muttered, "It's not fair to them."

"It's not your fault you're scared of dogs," Mike wrapped his arms around Levi's shoulders and kissed his hair again, "If this is what it takes to make you feel comfortable here, then it's perfectly fine, but we could always go back to your place if you'd prefer?"

"It's fine..." Levi sighed, "Can you make some tea, please? I'm still fucking freezing."

Mike just laughed and shook his head fondly as he headed towards the kitchen.

~~~KMD~~~

Levi often wondered how he'd come to live in a town where it seemed every single person owned at least one dog. They were everywhere, he couldn't leave his house without seeing at least five out for a walk with their owners. He couldn't even take a simple trip to the shop without having to cross the road a thousand times to avoid passing a dog.

Even though he hated to admit it, he'd much rather have someone with him when he was outside, then he'd have a human shield to protect him.

At least his friends didn't have dogs. Hanji had two cats, and Erwin owned a cockatoo that Levi had accidentally taught how to swear.

It just sucked that Mike happened to own four dogs. As well as Tiny, he also had two Rottweilers named Bruno and Gypsy, and an Old English sheepdog named Charlie. Levi wished he could have stopped himself falling in love with the man, he knew it would end badly. Love is hard to control though, and now they'd been together for two years, but Levi knew that eventually something would happen with him and the dogs, and everything would go to shit.

~~~KMD~~~

"That was a shit movie."

"You're only saying that because both Baymax and Tadashi died."

"Fuck off."

Mike snorted and tightened his arms around Levi's waist, placing a kiss to his cheek, "I thought it was good."

"You think all movies are good." Levi frowned, standing up from Mike's lap so he could stretch.

"I didn't like The Maze Runner." Mike pointed out, getting up from the sofa so he could gather the empty popcorn bowl and snack wrappers.

"Except The Maze Runner, you think all movies are good." Levi rephrased, lying back down on the sofa, "I wanna watch Magic Mike next."

"We don't-" Mike started, but was cut off by one of the dogs beginning to bark.

Levi flinched at the noise, and tensed up slightly, despite knowing the dogs couldn't get to him.

"Wait here, I'll go check on them." Mike leaned down and placed a kiss to Levi's lips. He moved to the kitchen to empty his hands, before he headed down a corridor towards the dog's room. The barking quietened down for a moment, then Mike cursed loudly.

Odd, the taller man never did that, unless seriously riled up. Levi didn't have to time to figure what had caused the slip up, because the next sound he heard was that of claws tapping on wooden floors.

He was frozen with fear as Gypsy came bursting into the room, she stopped a couple of meters away from him and started barking loudly. Memories came flooding back and he couldn't do a thing to stop them.

 _Levi was ten, and he was walking through the park with his mother. They were laughing about something he d't quite remember, and then without warning his mother was on the ground, a dog on top of her. There was red, so much red, and his mother's screams filled his ears. She was trying to tell him to run, but his legs wouldn't move, he was frozen to the spot._

 _The dog lost interest when his mother stopped struggling and then it turned to him. Its jaws clenched down on his arm and he screamed, but before it could do any more damage, a man was wrestling the dog off of him._

 _He was yelling for someone to call an ambulance, while he did his best to hold onto the dog. A woman came over, and they crouched down by Levi's mother while they spoke hurriedly into their phone._

 _Another woman came over, and she took the dog from the man, claiming it was hers._

 _Levi was just stood there crying silently, he tried to take a step forward, wanted to see if his mother was OK, but the man quickly brought him to a bench and sat him down. The man crouched in front of Levi, tried to calm him, kept asking him if he was OK._

 _What happened after that was mostly a blur, all he remembered was that his mother had died before she'd gotten to the hospital and Levi had had to move in with his uncle. Now his life was pretty much ruined._

Levi knew, he _knew_ , that the worst thing that could happen, was Gypsy covering him in slobber and making him smell like dog breath.

She was still barking at him, and then she was moving again, heading straight towards him.

Levi could feel his trousers growing wet, but he was too scared to be embarrassed, he just needed to move. His legs carried him towards the stairs and before he knew it, he was in Mike's room, curled up in the corner.

The shorter man had his knees drawn up to his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around them and his face hidden as he sobbed. He could hear Mike cursing and scolding the dog downstairs, as well as the others barking.

A minute or so passed, then there was the click of the bedroom door opening, and the soft thud of Mike's footsteps on the carpet. He knelt beside Levi and wrapped his arms around him tightly.

"I'm so sorry, fuck, I didn't know she would do that. I'm so, so sorry Levi..." Mike trailed off, and now that Levi had calmed down somewhat, he felt his face heat up on embarrassment, because he knew what was coming next. "Do you want to shower? I can wash your clothes and find you something else to wear? I'm so sorry."

Levi just nodded against the taller man's chest.

After he'd cleaned himself up and re-dressed in a pair of Mike's trousers and one of his hoodies, they'd ended up curled up together in Mike's bed. Mike repeatedly kissed Levi anywhere he could reach, asking him over and over again if he was OK, telling him how sorry he was.

"I'm fine." Levi sighed shakily, hiding his face in Mike's chest. He hated what he was going to say next, but it was for the best, or at least, that's what he kept telling himself, "I can't keep doing this to you, Mike. It isn't fair, for you or you dogs. I can't make you choose between them and me, not like you'd choose me any-"

"Shut up." Mike growled, pushing Levi away so he could look into his eyes, "I love you, Levi. You're not making me choose, there's no choice to make."

"That isn't true you know it." Levi hissed back, "If this relationship is to continue, you're going to have to find somewhere else for your dogs, you can't keep us both Mike, it's selfish. That choice is a difficult one to make, those dogs are practically your fucking children, you've even had your youngest dog longer than you've known me. I'm just making this decision easier for you, its just better if I leave..." The anger had left his voice by the time he'd finished, and he could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Why can't I be selfish? Why can't I keep both you and the dogs?" Mike asked, sitting up and pulling Levi with him.

"For fuck's sake Mike, I can't be around your dogs, remember what just happened? You can't keep us separated, but still in the same house, there's bound to be other incidents like that!"

Mike clenched his jaw, giving Levi a look of utter defeat, tears built in his own blue eyes, and it broke Levi's heart to see him like that. He pulled Levi closer and wrapped his arms around him, "One more night?"

"I don't think-"

"Please, Levi."

Levi couldn't refuse, not when Mike sounded so hurt, and so they led back down together, but they wouldn't be getting any sleep that night.

~~~KMD~~~

Levi had fucking forgotten to give Mike his house keys back, he'd completely forgotten he even had them. Mike had given them to him after they started dating, but Levi hadn't used them at all, because of the dogs of course.

He could quickly drop them now, Mike would be at work so Levi wouldn't have to deal with the pain of seeing him again, it had only been a week after all. If he did that though, he'd have to deal with the dogs, so that was out of the question.

Or was it?

Maybe... maybe if he actually faced the dogs... he could get over his fear?

No, that would be suicide, what if something happened to him and he was all alone in the house?

But he knew Mike's dogs were friendly, big and somewhat scary looking, but friendly. Tiny was there too, and Levi liked Tiny. He'd held him, fed him, played with him, Tiny wasn't scary to him. But Tiny was tiny.

Rottweilers and Old English Sheepdogs are not small dogs, they could place their paws on Levi's shoulders if they stood on their hind legs. Mike had taught them not to jump up though, if they stood normally they'd only be half Levi's height, maybe a little over half. If he was bigger than them they wouldn't be as scary right?

Wrong. Levi wouldn't have peed himself if that was true.

They were well trained though, Mike had trained them good. If Levi told them to stop, or sit and stay, they most likely would, wouldn't they?

But what if-

Fuck it.

YOLO.

Levi was fed up of being scared. He still loved Mike, fuck, he actually liked dogs too, he was just scared of them. It was time to man up and stop being such a pussy, he'd given up, that's what he'd done. Things had gotten tough and he'd just given up.

Maybe Mike wouldn't want him back, but Levi had to try. Even if they didn't get back together, they could probably still be friends, and Levi probably wouldn't be scared of dogs.

Grabbing both sets of his keys, he made his way out of the door.

~~~KMD~~~

Bad idea.

Bad fucking idea.

He'd managed to unlock the door, but as soon as he tried to open it, the barking had begun, any and all confidence had immediately fled his body.

He could just lock the door again and go home. Give the keys to Erwin or something and ask him to pass them on.

That would be giving up though, and Levi didn't want to give up, not again. So he slowly pushed the door open, just enough for Charlie to stick his muzzle through.

He was panting happily, pretty content to just stand their with his nose sticking out of the door. The other dogs were behind Charlie, trying to push him out of the way.

Levi took a deep breath and held the door still with one hand, his free hand moving to Charlie's nose. The dog sniffed him for a brief moment, before barking and licking his hand.

The man flinched and gasped, his heart speeding up just slightly. Nothing happened though, he was fine, he had to continue.

Levi opened the door a little more and gently nudged the dogs out the way with his foot so he could step inside. Once that was done he quickly shut the door behind, then made sure that all dogs were in sight.

Tiny was sleeping on the sofa, Charlie, Gypsy and Bruno were gathered around him, sniffing him and licking his hands.

OK, so far so good. There was no blood, no panicking, no pee soaking his trousers.

He gulped and muttered, 'sit'. The dogs didn't listen to them, so he said it a little louder, a little firmer, and this time they did. Levi grinned, they were listening to him! Now feeling a little braver, he crouched down by Charlie and held out his hand, "Paw." He said.

Charlie lifted his paw and placed it in Levi's hand.

Levi laughed at that, he was OK and the dogs were listening to him! They were behaving, Levi was alive, he wasn't injured! He did the same with Gypsy and Bruno, shaking their paws before he got to his feet.

He was still a little tense when they moved out of his line of sight, or barked just a little too loudly, but he was proud of himself. Strange dogs were a whole other story, he'd probably still have problems with other dogs he encountered outside. He may never go to a park where strange dogs ran around off leash, but this was a good start, he was one step closer to completely overcoming his fear.

Levi was so caught up playing with his new dog friends, that he completely forgot this was Mike's house until the man walked through the front door.

"Um, Levi...?" The taller man's voice was filled with confusion, but there was a hint of fear. "What are you...?"

"Oh! Um, I- I just came by to drop of your house keys, I forgot I had them so..." Levi explained, awkwardly shuffling over to Mike to hand his keys over to him.

"I- the dogs, fuck! Are you OK, if I'd known you were coming by-"

"I'm fine." Levi smiled sheepishly, "I'm OK, I- they're my friends now, I guess? I don't fucking know, that sounds weird-"

He was cut off by Mike laughing, then strong arms were around his waist and he was being spun around, "God, I'm so happy! I never thought- can I be selfish now? I really want to be selfish right now, I also need pictures of you with the dogs. You're so cute, oh my God, I love you, Levi, I love you so much!"

Levi laughed too, wrapping his arms around Mike's neck, and his legs around his waist, "I love you too- fuck, thank you, Mike."

Mike hummed and buried his face in the space between Levi's neck and shoulder, he sniffed and let out another hum, "You smell like dog, I love it."

"Fucking weirdo." Levi grinned, pulling Mike into a deep kiss.

~~~KMD~~~

You can imagine Erwin and Hanji's surprise when they bumped into Levi and Mike holding hands, walking the dogs, and talking and smiling without a care.

~~~KMD~~~

 **Anyway, tell me what you think maybe?**

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